Conference 7.286::digital

1515.0. "try a piece..." by ROYALT::BARNDT (I've got a terrific truth-ache...) Mon Jul 01 1991 12:33

    A friend of mine sent this to me recently.  This is not directed toward
    anyone in particular (unless, of course, it makes you defensive ;-) ).
    Just some good pie-for-thought...
    
    Dave
    
    
                  A little humble pie never hurt anybody
                  --------------------------------------

                         by Patrick & Linda Lynch
                          � Knight News Service


    When you get right down to it, most people would rather be right than
    happy or successful.  And because "being right" is the way that most of
    us prove we're OK, we'll also do whatever it takes to keep from "being
    wrong" even when it means holding on to what's obviously not working -
    like Michael, an engineer who ran a large San Antonio, Texas-based
    design firm.

    Even though the company's sales were continuing to grow by more than 8
    percent a year, net profit had shrunk from 12 percent four years ago,
    to less than 3 percent today, and there was no end in sight to the
    downward spiral.

    But when Michael came face-to-face with replacing the company's
    antiquated structure, which had split the business into a half-dozen
    warring camps, he balked.  After all, he'd built that behemoth;
    changing it would imply that he was fallible.  And if there was one
    thing his ego wanted everyone to know, it's that he was seldom, if
    ever, wrong.

    The results, of course, were just what you'd expect.  The company kept
    trudging downhill, profits continued to slide, and Michael, refusing to
    change, kept reassuring everyone that he was right ...  until his
    partners refused to put up with his ego any longer and tossed him out.

    How about you?  Do you have a hard time admitting it when you're wrong,
    even though your stubborn refusal to acknowledge the obvious is tearing
    your life apart?  A few questions:

       �  Do you always know better than anyone else about almost
          everything?  If you answered "no", ask yourself how often
          the people closest to you say, directly or indirectly,
          that you act like that.

       �  How do you handle it when you screw up?  Do you step
          forward and take personal responsibility for what went
          wrong?  Or do you help people discover, conveniently, that
          someone or something else caused the problem?  Do you
          normally manage, somehow, to escape "clean"?  And after
          it's over, are you always the one who was right, and do
          you make certain everyone knows it?

       �  Have you created ways, perhaps unknowingly, to insulate
          yourself from the hard jolts that go with "unpleasant"
          reality?  How much, for example, is incoming news
          filtered?  Is anything that smacks of failure or poor
          performance routinely censored?  How often do you feel
          uneasy because you sense, instinctively, that you're out
          of touch with what's really going on?  Are you scared
          because you know things really are too good to be true?

       �  Do you find yourself rationalizing the use of arrogance
          and intimidation?  At the same time, have you finally
          begun to realize that the real reason you do it is to keep
          people away so they don't spot your insecurities?

    Blowing it, screwing up and being wrong aren't much fun.  But as
    Michael will tell you, it's better to eat a little humble pie than to
    be right and lose everything.


(Patrick & Linda Lynch are partners in Potential,
 a Boulder, CO - based management consulting firm.)